Crime & Punishment
by Valkyriye
Summary: In an alternate universe, Meiko Fujiwara arrives in the small town of Shirako as a series of murders begin. Will she be able to get to the bottom of it with the help of the many bonds she creates? A loose retelling of Persona 4.


You awake to the scent of lavender. Soon enough, you open your eyes to an overwhelming sigh of blue. To your left, you see assorted liquors and spirits on a short stand. Above that, you see a window. From the moving fog and dim scenery, you conclude that you are in a vehicle of some sort. By the cramped room and velvet seats, you decide that this is a limo. An overwhelmingly _blue _limo. It soons comes to your attention that you're not alone. Two people are sitting in front of you: one an old man, hunched over a table with an extremely long nose, and a young woman, with long, curly blonde hair, holding a rather large book. The man looks up at you with huge, wild eyes. "Welcome to the Velvet Room." He says with practiced eloquence. He chuckles. "Ah, it seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny. My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance." Igor fiddles with his fingers for a moment. It seems like he's said this many times before. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a "contract" may enter." You briefly have a chance to wonder what kind of contract before he continues. "It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future." He smiles eerily. "Now then, why don't you introduce yourself?"

You are at a loss for words for a moment. You nod silently before speaking. "My name is Meiko Fujiwara." You speak in a high, dignified voice, straightening your skirt as to appear more upstanding.

"Hmm, I see!" Igor says, looking pleased. "Now, let's take a look into your future, shall we?" He waves his hand over the table and a stack of cards appear in a flash of blue light. Another wave later, and they are spread across the table in an odd shape. "Do you believe in fortune telling?" He asks mysteriously. "Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different. Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?" He chuckles as he proposes the observation. He makes a motion with his hand and a card flips over, revealing a tower being struck by lightning, falling and crumbling. "Hmm.." He mumbles. "The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent. The card indicating the future beyond that is.." He makes another motion, a new card flipping over to reveal a crescent moon. "The Moon, in the upright position. This card represents "hesitation" and "mystery."" He smiles. "Very interesting, indeed. It seems you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you. In the coming days, you will enter into a contract of some sort, after which you will return here." He fiddles with his fingers again, smiling. "The coming year is a turning point in your destiny. If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost. My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen." With a wave of his hands, the cards on the table are gone. "Ah, I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you." He motions to the young woman beside him. "This is Margaret. She is a resident of this place, like myself."

The woman looks up for the first time at you. "My name is Margaret." She speaks in a smooth, professional voice. "I am here to accompany you through your journey."

Igor smiles back at you. "We shall attend to the details another time. Until then, farewell.." He waves at you, then fiddles his fingers again, smiling. Your vision fades, and you find yourself asleep yet again.

* * *

You awake to find yourself on the train again, an announcement sounding. "This is the end of this line, making it's final destination in Shirako. If this is your stop, please move to the frontmost car." You sigh and stand, grabbing your duffle bag from the above compartment and making your way to the assigned car before the train stopped. You checked your phone to find a text from one of your soon-to-be roommates, Kayoko Satake. It read, "We'll be waiting at the station for you." You sighed as the train stopped and you exited the car, finding yourself in an open air station, typical of a rural town such as Shirako. As you reached the road, you saw two young girls waiting for you. The one you recognized as Kayoko smiled and waved you over, the other one blushed and looked at her feet. As you reached them, Kayoko started to speak. "Welcome to Shirako. Not much like Tokyo, huh?" She smiled again and gestured to her friend, who was going to be your other room mate. "This is Kawanari Tsurimi. She's a bit shy, sorry." Kawanari hunched over. You noticed she had ruffled black hair and was rather short. "She's a grade below you, and I'm a grade above you."

You smile at that. "It's very nice to meet you, Kayoko-senpai, Kawanari-chan." You hold your hand out and shake it with the two of them. Kawanari finally looked up, and you saw that she had dark brown eyes. "You'll be going to Chiyoda High with us." She spoke in a soft voice. "We won't see you much except for at home, so you'll have to make some other friends to hang out with." She seemed to be separating yourself from you.

"Kawanari-chan, that's rude." Kayoko scolded. "Anyways, let's head to our house. We all split the rent, but we'll let you off the first month so you can raise some money. It's only for a year that you'll be staying with us, right?"

You nod. "My parents are off on business, and I have no relatives in Japan at the moment. Most of them are in the United Kingdom or the United States, and my parents didn't want to pay to have me flown there for just a year."

Kayoko nods in understanding, and you all begin to walk to your home. Shirako seems very small, though not isolated. The small city of Kyonan lay a short train ride away, you noted. The walk to the house was silent. On your way there, you ran stopped in the convenience store. The attendant smiled at you and asked your name. "Meiko." You spoke. The attendant nodded and offered you her hand, which you took gratefully. You started to feel dizzy as you left the store. "Is something wrong?" Kayoko asked, concerned. You assured her that you just felt lightheaded, which she accepted. When you all arrived, Kayoko gave you a key. "Curfew is 8:00 PM, unless you have night time jobs, like at the hospital or something. In that case, you must be back by midnight. Your room is up the stairs, last door to the left. It's sort of small, but it doesn't look like you brought much either way." She smiled as you entered the house and, because it was 10 minutes to midnight, you all went to bed.

* * *

You open your eyes to fog. The only visible thing is the ground, which is a matrix of red and black, creating the only path that can be followed. You decide that the only thing you can do is continue forward along the path, for fear that there wouldn't be solid ground where the fog covered. You follow the path for a good while. Along the way, you hear a voice. "Do you seek the truth?" It asks. You blink and continue. Again, you hear the voice. "If it's truth you desire, come and find me." You continue down the path, this time running until you come to a wall. It's adorned with red and black squares. You feel a strong presence behind the wall. When you touch it, the squares move to open. Suddenly, you are thrown a naginata. You're confused for a moment, until you see a shadowy figure in the fog. "So, you are the one pursuing me. Hmm. Try all you like." It speaks. In a panic, you run up and slice the figure with your naginata. "Hmm. It seems that you can see a little, despite the fog." The figure observes. Again, you run up an try to splice the figure. "I see, indeed. That is very interesting information." The figure coos. Still panicking, you try the cut the figure again. It laughs. "But you will not catch me so easily. If what you seek is the "truth," then your search will be even harder." You feel a power emanate from the figure, and the fog grows thicker until you cannot see it anymore. You try to slice where the figure was, but it's no use. It's not there anymore. "Everyone sees what they want to, and the fog only deepens." You hear the voice. "Will we meet again? At a place other than here? Hmm, I look forward to it." You feel yourself pass out.

* * *

You awoke again in an unfamiliar room. After a moment, you process that this is your room in the house you share with Kayoko and Kawanari, where you'll be staying for the next year. You sit up and look into your closet, where the new, plaid uniform of Chiyoda High hung in a plastic bag. Reluctantly, you stand from your futon and change into the uniform, smoothing out the skirt and sizing yourself up in the mirror. It was a perfect fit. "Meiko-chan, you up yet?" You hear Kayoko's voice ring through the house. "Breakfast is ready!"

When you reach the kitchen, you see Kayoko and Kawanari already eating and an extra plate of food set aside for you. It was toast and eggs. "I hope you like it, but eat quick." Kayoko warned. "It's almost time to leave.

* * *

As you walked along the bank of the Sarugawa River, Kayoko was explaining the standard day to you. "You're free to do anything after school, but remember the curfew." She lectures. "You'll be in big trouble with our landlord if you're caught out after 8 PM." Soon enough, you all arrived at the gates to Chiyoda High. Kawanari stows her shoes in her locker quickly before leaving to the first year hallway. Kayoko sighed. "I need to go to class." She pointed down a long hallway. "You should go to the faculty office. They'll give you your room assignment there. See you at home." Waving, Kayoko started up the stairs to the third year hallway.

* * *

"Alright, shit-stains, we have a new student from the big city." Your homeroom teacher, Mr. Hitsu, so eloquently introduces you. "Her name is Meiko Fujiwara, and I better not see any of you _perverts _hitting on her!" He places a hand on your shoulder, seemingly protective but making you feel uncomfortable.

"Mr. Hitsu," A student in the middle of the classroom raises his hand. "Is it OK if she sits here?" He gestures to the empty seat beside him.

"Yeah, yeah." Mr. Hitsu removes his hand. "You hear that, your seat's over there, so siddown already!" He yells as you move swiftly to your new seat beside the boy.

"Sorry about Mr. Hitsu." The boy whispers. "We only have to deal with him for a year."

"Quit eye-fucking each other!" Mr. Hitsu yells at you and the boy. You sigh and wonder how well you'll fit in at this new school.

* * *

You found your school day going quite fast. Soon enough, Mr. Hitsu was dismissing you all. Before you could leave, an announcement rang through the school. "All teachers are to report to the faculty office. All students are to remain in their classrooms and not leave the school until further notice."

You sigh as the boy from earlier and a girl walk up to you. You note that he had short, brown hair and large eyes. He was about your height. "'Sup, Mieko-san!" The boy says to you, smiling. "I'm Koshiro Mihashi, and this is my friend, Miliko Kanegawa."

Miliko looked at you, seeming to be at a loss for words. She was quite tall with long brown hair that reached her lower back. She looked at you in the eyes and you saw a light hazel color in them. "I-I'd love to show you around with Koshiro-kun, but I need to leave as soon as we're released." She spoke in a quiet voice, much like Kawanari's.

Suddenly, a boy walked between you and Koshiro, handing him a book and quickly trying to leave the room while speaking fast. "ThanksforlendingmethisIlovedityouknowthepartwitht heguyand-" Plop.

Koshiro had tripped the boy. "What is wrong with you, Junzo-kun." He scolded the boy on the ground. Koshiro flipped through the pages of the book with an astonished look on his face before kicking Junzo square on the back. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" He yelled, furious. "YOU HOLLOWED OUT MY BOOK!"

Junzo sounded extremely achey. "M-my little b-brother heard about hollowing books and.." He trailed off.

"You are a complete and utter asshole, Junzo-kun.." Koshiro sighed, worn out. Miliko walked up to Junzo and offered him her hand. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"Oh, Miliko-san, are you worried about me?" Junzo asked Miliko in an overly dramatic voice. Miliko simply nodded. However, before Junzo could accept Miliko's help, Koshiro slapped Junzo's hand. "Don't bother with him, Miliko-chan." He grated. "Let him suffer."

Another announcement came on. "All students are to leave school and go directly home immediately." It sounded. At that moment, Koshiro waved you to him as he and Miliko left the room. You took another glance at Junzo and decided to leave him be.

* * *

**Well, this isn't very good so far. Trust me, this is not just a retelling of Persona 4. It'll separate more from Persona 4 in the next few chapters.**

**All characters are based off either my real life friends, my friend's characters or myself. Can you guess which character is me? Whoever can wins a cookie.**

**Anywho, I don't own Persona 4 in any way, shape or form. If I did, Naoto would've been the main character. OK, I hope you like it so far, and please let me know if there's any way I can improve this. I will also take any ideas or OCs you'd like included in this. Thank you!**

**Nia**


End file.
